Debt
I was, to be frank, prepared to be bored by this - “debt” is a dry, intuitive concept which seemed little deserving of 500 pages of exegesis. The book seemed vaguely Important and not a bit hip, but not…interesting. Then...
North America
Moby-Dick or, the Whale
I first read Moby Dick when I was around 12, enjoying the Adventure and Fun Names and Cool Whale Facts, struggling through the passages that I did not understand or were boring - in an attempt to prove to myself...
Frank Sonnets
Poetry: hard to judge? I don’t know how intrinsic that is, or how ignorant I am. I read through this because someone I know said it was important to them, and I wanted to see why. I think I can...
Stoner
I think I spend too much time trying to solve for the author of a book, in general, when I read. Really I suppose I should kill the author, that is the cool thing to do. But I think here...
A Sand County Almanac
I think this makes an excellent pairing with A Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek. The one, a bright-eyed celebration of the beauty and majesty of being alive and able to experience nature, the other (A Sand County Almanac), a reflection with...
Black Sun
Pretty good, really! It is a bit tropey, the pirate mermaid is a good bit and some fun sociopolitical drama is scattered throughout, has a refreshing fantasy setting. I think, had I read this when I was younger, I would...
Mason & Dixon
I think this is likely the best of Thomas Pynchon, one of the great novels of my lifetime, although I enjoyed his Bleeding Edge more. I don’t know that I’ve read a better book that was written since I’ve been...
Inherent Vice
When it comes down to it, this is basically just Bleeding Edge but with more Genre. Enjoyable enough as a detective mystery, and the counterculture voice is kind of fun - and, as I listened to the audiobook, Ron McLarty’s...
Walden
I listened to Walden while walking through the woods around Walden, and I gotta say - the words still ring true. Yes, he was a few hours walk from Boston, yes his mom probably did his laundry for him and...
The Snow Leopard
Reading this brought to mind Susan Sontag’s On Photography, or at least what I remember of it/what I imagine it as saying, having read it a number of years ago. Not to say that they have anything in common or...